Implementing watermarking based on a virtual XPS printer for Windows operating systems

The article presents an approach to electronic documents printed marking by implementing a virtual XPS printer in Windows operating systems. The developed approach allows marking electronic documents during printing, regardless of the document presentation format and requirements for the printing process. During the marking approach development and implementation, a comparative analysis of technical solutions in the field of marking electronic documents was carried out, advantages and disadvantages were determined. Requirements and limitations imposed on the marking approach are defined. The virtual printer technology choice for the marking documents implementation in the printing process is substantiated. In the course of the marking approach implementing based on virtual printer technology, the structure of the organization and interaction of the marking process with the components of the print service of Windows family operating systems is given. The architecture of a virtual XPS printer driver has been developed. The process of practical implementation of the marker embedding into an electronic document using the developed virtual printer is described. In the process of the marking approach practical implementation, a interaction features description of the developed print filter with the printing subsystem, the parameters of metadata processing and the organization features of the marking server multithreaded implementation is presented. The implementation features of the developed marking approach in individual operating systems of the Windows family are considered. Limitations and assumptions are determined for each of the considered operating systems. Marking process requirements and further research directions are formulated.